The SOL3D pipeline addresses research challenges in relation to equipment, expertise and cost
Scientists from King’s College London’s (KCL) UK Dementia Research Institute’s (UK DRI) have developed a process to enable custom cell culture device creation.
Published at PLOS Biology, the soft-lithography on 3D vat polymerised (SOL3D) pipeline is cheaper, versatile, highly reproducible and modifies the microfabrication of cell culture devices to produce customised systems.
Cell culture devices are designed to support physical environments for cells within the laboratory setting, enabling scientists to observe cell growth and how they interact with each other under different test conditions.
Currently, wet labs use commercially developed microdevices, which are expensive and do not allow for customisation, ultimately narrowing the scope of research that can be done.
The SOL3D pipeline, instead, offers the potential to create bespoke designs and addresses challenges in relation to equipment, expertise and cost.
Researchers used bioengineering and microfabrication expertise with commercially available low-cost instruments to create the SOL3D pipeline to design and create high-resolution, customisable devices in a flexible, easy and accessible way.
Available on GitHub, any lab can access the desktop 3D printers and printing resins to create custom moulds to produce a cell culture device, which can be adapted for various research needs as it was tested on multiple cell types.
Using expertise in motor neurone disease (MND), a rare condition that affects the brain and nerves, and RNA, the Serio Group developed custom microdevices to study the relationship between nerve length and its functions.
Currently, more than eight research groups globally have adopted SOL3D, and with funding support from the UK DRI, the Serio Group will open a microfabrication facility at the Maurice Wohl Neuroscience Institute at KCL’s Denmark Hill campus in 2024.
“The new microfabrication facility will promote collaborative research across the university” and will “create new and better cell models to answer various research questions and accelerate progress,” said Andrea Serio, study lead and reader in neural tissue engineering, KCL.
“My group will be providing expertise and expanding beyond our work on MND,” he added.